Director of Research Programmes (Research Coordination, Partnerships, Grants & Tech Transfer)

Exponential Science Foundation; Ticino; Hybrid; CHF 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

Exponential Science Foundation in Lugano, Switzerland, seeks a Director of Research Programmes to coordinate research agendas across Web3, AI, complex systems, and quantum computing. Lead partnerships with top centres, manage grants and consortia, and drive industry adoption via pilots, licensing, and spin-outs.

The role requires senior leadership in research operations, proven collaboration with academic and industrial partners, and a track record in tech transfer and IP-aligned activities.

Qualifications

• Senior experience in research programme management / operations / innovation leadership coordinating multiple projects and stakeholders.
• Demonstrable success building partnerships with leading research centres and/or industry research teams.
• Proven ability to coordinate grant applications and consortium bids (planning, mobilisation, writing coordination, review, submission).
• Experience forming and running research consortia with governance and partner management.
• Experience managing budgets, resourcing and capacity planning, including hiring and team build.
• Strong understanding of tech transfer and research-to-adoption pathways.
• Experience working with legal/commercial stakeholders on collaborations.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills.
• Sufficient technical literacy across Web3/Blockchain, AI, Complex Systems, and/or Quantum.
• Direct experience with Swiss and EU funding ecosystems and consortium structures.
• Experience across borders with globally distributed teams and partners.

Responsibilities

• Research coordination and portfolio management across programmes and partners.
• Build and manage strategic partnerships with universities, labs, and industry groups.
• Lead grants, funding pipeline and research consortia from scoping to submission.
• Spearhead tech transfer by translating outputs into pilots, prototypes, or standards.
• Oversee IP identification and collaboration with Legal teams.
• Budgeting, capacity planning and hiring to scale the research function.
• Ensure cross-functional alignment and governance for fundable, deployable programmes.

Skills

Stakeholder management

Communication

Leadership

Program management

Grant coordination

Partnerships

Tech transfer

Budgeting

Team hiring

Job description

Director of Research Programmes (Research Coordination, Partnerships, Grants & Tech Transfer)

The Director of Research Programmes will coordinate and execute the Research agenda and delivery model across Web3 & Blockchain, AI, Complex Systems, and Quantum Computing. The role is focused on coordinating research programmes and collaborators, building partnerships with leading research centres and industry, coordinating grants and research consortia, and driving technology transfer—taking research capability and turning it into industry adoption pathways (pilots, integrations, licensing/spin-outs where appropriate).

Geographic focus:

Primary focus on Switzerland and the EU, with responsibility to expand and manage global partnerships and programmes.

Areas of interest:

• Web3 & Blockchain (e.g., decentralised infrastructure, identity, governance, security, analytics)
• Artificial Intelligence (e.g., applied AI, trustworthy AI, automation, decision systems)
• Complex Systems (e.g., systemic risk, market dynamics, network effects, emergent behaviour)
• Quantum Computing (e.g., quantum-ready approaches, cryptography implications, applied research pathways)
  

Key responsibilities:

Research coordination and portfolio management

• Work with the Executive Team to set and maintain a coherent Research Programmes agenda aligned to organisational priorities and partner needs.
• Coordinate a portfolio of Research projects across internal teams and external collaborators, ensuring clear scope, governance, milestones, and accountability.
• Translate strategy and partner needs into structured programmes (themes, workstreams, work packages) that teams can execute.
• Establish an effective operating cadence (steering updates, cross-team reviews, showcases) to track progress, unblock delivery, and ensure quality.
  

Partnerships with leading research centres and industry (Switzerland/EU led)

• Build and manage strategic partnerships with top universities, research institutes, labs, and industry research groups—prioritising Switzerland/EU and scaling globally.
• Identify high-quality collaborators, shape joint programmes, and maintain senior relationships over time.
• Structure collaborations (MoUs, joint programmes, advisory groups, secondments) with internal stakeholders and partners.
• Represent the Foundation credibly with senior academic and industry audiences.
  

Grants, funding pipeline and research consortia

• Own the coordination of the research funding pipeline, with emphasis on Swiss/EU ecosystems while pursuing global opportunities where strategic.
• Lead bid coordination end-to-end: opportunity scanning, bid/no-bid recommendations, partner mobilisation, proposal planning, writing coordination, internal review and submission management.
• Build and coordinate multi-partner consortia (Swiss/EU and international), including governance, partner roles, work packages, delivery plans, and coordination of budget inputs where required.
• Support post-award mobilisation and ongoing partner coordination to ensure delivery readiness and compliance with reporting obligations.
  

Tech transfer and industry problem sourcing

• Create a tight loop between industry needs and the research agenda: proactively source real problems from industry and translate them into research briefs and collaborative programmes.
• Drive technology transfer pathways by shaping outputs into adoption-ready forms (e.g., prototypes, reference implementations, pilots, standards contributions) and identifying routes to market.
• Work with engineering/product and external partners to move outputs into pilots, integrations, licensing discussions, spin-out pathways, or open-source strategies (as appropriate).
  

IP identification and exploitation (with the Legal team)

• Work closely with Legal to run a practical process for IP identification and capture (e.g., invention disclosure flow, asset logging, decision gates).
• Coordinate with Legal to ensure collaboration terms enable exploitation (ownership clarity, background/foreground IP, contributor traceability).
• Support Legal-led protection and exploitation activity by providing technical narratives, documentation, and stakeholder coordination.
  

Budgeting, capacity planning and hiring

• Monitor and manage the budget in line with portfolio priorities, grant constraints, and organisational governance.
• Maintain an active view of team capacity (skills coverage, allocation, bottlenecks) and recommend rebalancing as priorities shift.
• Own resourcing plans: hiring priorities, role scoping, contractor/partner resourcing, onboarding, and performance cadence.
• Partner with leadership to scale the research function appropriately based on roadmap, funding, and delivery performance.
  

Cross-functional alignment and governance

• Ensure strong alignment between research, engineering, partnerships, and legal so programmes are fundable, buildable, and deployable.
• Maintain appropriate governance around risk, compliance, and security expectations in how research is executed and shared (with relevant leads).
• Ensure clear internal communication and senior stakeholder reporting to support timely decisions.
  

Experience and capabilities:

• Senior experience in research programme management / research operations / innovation leadership, coordinating multiple projects and stakeholders.
• Demonstrable success building partnerships with leading research centres and/or industry research teams.
• Proven ability to coordinate grant applications and consortium bids (planning, mobilisation, writing coordination, review, submission).
• Experience forming and running research consortia (multi-institution collaborations), including governance and partner management.
• Experience managing budgets, resourcing and capacity planning, including hiring and team build.
• Strong understanding of tech transfer and research-to-adoption pathways (pilots, integrations, licensing, spin-outs, standards, open-source strategy).
• Experience working closely with legal/commercial stakeholders on research collaborations and IP-adjacent processes (without needing to draft legal documents).
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, comfortable engaging senior academics, CTOs/Heads of Research, funders and policymakers.
• Sufficient technical literacy across Web3/Blockchain, AI, Complex Systems, and/or Quantum to shape programmes, ask the right questions, and challenge assumptions.
  
• Direct experience with Swiss and EU funding ecosystems and consortium structures (e.g., EU-style collaborations).
• Experience working across borders with globally distributed teams and partners.
• Familiarity with research-to-engineering handover practices.

Exponential Science Foundation
Via Pietro Peri 21b CH-6900 Lugano Switzerland